-The giant bone-thing will assure our victory!

Everyone cheered after that resolution was shouted. The sound of ten thousand sword clashing with an equal number of shields made the place sound like the interior of a drum (and less sound) while  thousands of bloodthirsty smurfs roared. I didn't think I'd ever live to see this.

The wooden wall opened.It was already day, but I wouldn't have been able to tell because it was cloudy. The grey sky appeared ominous, as if it was falling on us. Such a stupid idea a little chicken would believe it, heh.

In the background, a black swarm of equally tiny warriors was running towards Keognik's troops.

-Charge, my soldiers!-She shouted - Epic rewards await you!

Her troops marched in perfect formation towards the rather unorganised enemy. A few minutes after the initial clash, half of Keognik's soldiers lied dead on the ground and a third of the enemies remained. How could she keep up with that bloodshed and not run out of people?

The grass was now stained with the goblin's blue blood. Green corpses within grey and white armor lied equally dead, in equal agony and in the same battlefield.

Keognik had a cold look in her eyes. She frowned and called another of her minions, who, after a short conversation, shouted:

-Free the weapon! This battle is ours! All hail the wise Keognik!

I got untied and pushed towards the battlefield. The view was awful. 

Organs here and there, a handful of limbs in the other side, the smell of burnt wood... It brought back memories, some of which I am not proud of.

Had Keognik's enemy barely seen me, they fled towards a fortification up a small hill.

Keognik roared something, and explosions were heard. The goblins had cannons. And they knew how to use them.

The fortress her enemy had run to fell on itself and caught fire. Screams, then nothing.

Hundreds of lifes consumed by a single order. By a fire.

Goblins hailing Keognik got me out of my trance.

-Bone-thing has helped us win!-she was saying- As a reward, bone-thing will be granted anything he asks for.

Silence again. They were waiting for my response.

-I want to go back with my friends-I said-.

To my surprise, Keognik agreed:

-Let the bone-thing go, then! This battle's outcome will be enough to definitely turn the tide in our favor!

I thought she'd keep me, but when I realised  how did she look it was obvious she was scared of me untied. And perhaps she didn't know if she had to feed me.

-How was the death toll today, Ksirf?

-219.408 casualties, 30.000 injured and 400 disappeared. The best so far, your highness.

-Indeed! So few for a whole army of enemies annihilated.

I didn't dislike the celebration atmosphere at all when I was going away, but it made me sad. They weren't even mourning their fallen comrades. They just went all out with the celebration. The power of the dictatorship, I guess. Perhaps being another species. Who knows.

The way back wasn't hard to find. They were pretty bad at covering their tracks.

Just about afew minutes after leaving them, I got why they didn't seem sad. Their fallen friends were a price.

A price they paid for whatever they were fighting for. And they won for what that Ksirf called "the best toll so far". They were celebrating a cheap victory.

Who knows if it was something else, but their thirst for victory accepted those lifes as a fair price. A fairly high price.